


But What About Lightning?

by Owl_Be_Writing



Category: Tuck Everlasting - Natalie Babbitt
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-27
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-02-27 06:21:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2682347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Owl_Be_Writing/pseuds/Owl_Be_Writing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is based on the book, not the movie.<br/>What if Winnie had not poured the water on the toad when she was ten, and had kept that bottle with its precious water inside for later?<br/>What might make her decide not to drink? What might cause her to drink?</p>
            </blockquote>





	But What About Lightning?

She was all set to uncork the bottle and pour the magic water over the toad, when a thought stopped her.

A memory.

She had been five years old, and there had been an old oak tree. People figured it was at least a hundred years old, but it still looked as vibrant and green as anything. So everyone said it had at least another hundred coming.

Some joked it would live forever.

Then the storm rolled in. Lightning struck the tree. They knew it must have, when they woke in the morning and saw what had become of it. It's said lightning doesn't strike twice, but it must have, for such a big strong tree to be reduced to nothing but splinters and charcoal- how could just one stroke of lightning do that?

Argue all you like about lightning, though; it wouldn't change the fact that the tree that would live forever was dead.

She saw lightning strike the flat ground before; so you could be hit even if you weren't a tall old tree.

Lightning could strike the spring. Could that break the magic? Would that spoil whatever made it work? Or what if it struck the tree nearby and knocked it down to block the spring? Or what if-

-she could think of a dozen things that might go wrong. There might not be a spring anymore tomorrow.

She crouched down next to her toad. "I'm sorry, friend," she whispered to it, "but what about lightning?"

She stood up to return the bottle to its safe space in her room, saying to the toad, "You wait right here. I'll be back with some normal water to pour on you, and you can stay as long as you like."

When she came back with the water, she could swear that the toad looked upset she took so long.

~five years later~

It felt like a horrible betrayal to Jesse, but she had fallen in love. A wonderful boy with wavy blonde hair named Adam. He sang with a beautiful voice, had taught her to dance. She loved him so.

She wanted to be with him forever.

So she went to the spring.

And found herself standing in dry dirt.

She collapsed to the ground, too shocked and devastated to cry, the empty bottle she had brought to fill tumbling numbly from her fingers. She and Adam were supposed to drink together, after dinner, after she had told him.

The bottle waiting at home. Too little water to share. She would never drink it now. Should she just pour it out?

"No," she whispered, then louder, "no." It had been a gift from Jesse, the bottle and the water in it. All she had of him.

And whatever it made of her, a wretched thing, she still loved Jesse.

She was startled by a loud rumbling of thunder. She stood up, picking up the empty bottle, and made to run home.

It wouldn't do to be struck by lightning.

~three years later~

Silently, Winnie entered the house, walked to her room, and stood in front of the box on her dresser.

She had stopped crying, and the tears had dried, leaving their streaks on her face, her eyes still red.

She left before the funeral had ended, as the casket was lowered, and no one stopped her.

Adam was dead. Gone.

Drunk, he had wandered away from the bachelor party without his equally drunk friends noticing, walking into the storm.

And of all the things that could happen, he was struck by lightning.

It had been his bachelor party. He and Winnie would have been married only three days later.

"Lightning," she murmured, as she opened the box, "of all things, lightning."

Lifting the bottle, she uncorked it. She stared at it a moment. What sort of woman was she, that she loved two men? That she'd be willing to wait for one that may never return?

Well, it's not like she'd be going to hell.

"What about lightning," she asked, as she tossed it back like a shot, it tasting like no meaning.

~sixty-two years later~

As Mae shopped, her heart grew heavy. Even if Winnie drank the water, that didn't mean they'd find her here. The punishment is that you can't stay.

She turned her cart towards the apples with a sigh, only to bang into a young woman in sunglasses and a headscarf. She had hit hard enough that the sunglasses were knocked off-

"-Winnie?"

The woman paused in her scrabbling for her sunglasses to stare back in shock. "...Mae?"

"Winnie," she exclaimed, embracing her, only to be shoved back after a short moment of warmth.

"Sixty-two years," was the harsh hiss, "sixty-two years of waiting. For fifty I've had to hide and wear disguises, I went to my own funeral. For forty I had given up on you coming back. For forty I regretted, I thought I would be for eternity alone. The damn toad died a year after I drank!"

"Winnie," whispered Mae, as the eternal young woman fell back into her arms, sobbing.

"...can I come home now," she choked, "can I see Jesse? Can I slap him? Can I kiss him? Can I come home?"

"Yes," murmured Mae, as she stroked her hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead, "for now and forever, yes."


End file.
